[R] Updating packages from one hard-drive to another, after upgrade of R

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Wed, 5 Mar 2008, ONKELINX, Thierry wrote:

> Bob,
>
> You can copy the files from the packages to your new computer. Then run
> update.packages(checkBuilt = TRUE).
>
> That should do.

Well, that will download new copies of all the packages, something he was 
trying to avoid.  It is close to unavoidable, though, as installed 
packages are only expected to work correctly with 2.x.y for a single value 
of 'x'.  The repositories have different collections for the binary 
distributions for 2.5 and 2.6.  Here we don't know the OS or how the 
packages were installed

If downloading really has to be avoided I would suggest using 'old' 
directory as a separate library (if the is Windows, see the rw-FAQ) after 
removing the duplicates (the base and recommended packages) from the new 
library directory.  And be prepared to download updates if things go 
wrong.  The main issue is packages using S4 methods, e.g. Matrix -- if you 
have the latter, make sure you do reinstall it.

>
> HTH,
>
> Thierry
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> ir. Thierry Onkelinx
> Instituut voor natuur- en bosonderzoek / Research Institute for Nature
> and Forest
> Cel biometrie, methodologie en kwaliteitszorg / Section biometrics,
> methodology and quality assurance
> Gaverstraat 4
> 9500 Geraardsbergen
> Belgium
> tel. + 32 54/436 185
> Thierry.Onkelinx at inbo.be
> www.inbo.be
>
> Do not put your faith in what statistics say until you have carefully
> considered what they do not say.  ~William W. Watt
> A statistical analysis, properly conducted, is a delicate dissection of
> uncertainties, a surgery of suppositions. ~M.J.Moroney
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
> Namens Bob Green
> Verzonden: woensdag 5 maart 2008 15:07
> Aan: r-help at r-project.org
> Onderwerp: [R] Updating packages from one hard-drive to another,after
> upgrade of R
>
>
> The CPU on my computer 'died' and I have had to purchase a new
> computer. I have just installed v 2.6.2. My previous computer had v
> 2.5.1 and a large number of files in the library folder. These files
> have been copied to a partition on my new hard drive, along with the
> old R installation.
>
> Can I just copy all the folders/files in the old library to the new
> v2.6.2 library or do the packages need to be downloaded again? There
> are quite a number of folders so it would be time-consuming to have
> to do a fresh download.
>
> Any assistance is appreciated,
>
> Bob

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595